Karaoke obsession

What is the attraction of karaoke bars for Thai people? My Thai GF and her friends all end up in one of these places after work and they can spend hours there. The Pattaya Mail’s Dr. Iain, in one of his books, stated that karaoke was Japan’s revenge for WW2 and I agree with him. People singing out of tune in front of a TV screen being used as an auto prompter machine is certainly not entertainment as far as I am concerned. They don’t seem to care about singing ability either, and the screams of enjoyment are certainly not music to the ears either.

Jason

Dear (Judgmental) Jason,

Have you some deep-down problem with karaoke itself, or karaoke and your Thai GF and friends. Do they spend “hours there” which you feel is eating into your time with your GF? I am also not a lover of karaoke, which is why you won’t find me at one of these places, but the people who do enjoy it are not hurting anyone, so you should not get so uptight, my Petal. Go and watch football with your mates and holler every time a goal is scored, and maybe you will find that this is a relief from the stresses of living, just as your GF does with her karaoke friends.

This article was published in the Pattaya Mail newspaper on Friday November 30, 2012 (Vol. XX No. 48).

2 comments

Believe it or not I actually ENJOY Karaoke! Problem is there are very few places that have English language songs. I know of SBI and DK but anywhere else? Seems strange that some places only have about 10 songs in English. For BT.100 they could buy from almost any market, a whole VCD/DVD with loads of songs.